RTL was recently contacted with reports that cameras had been found in rooms at the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Centre (CHNP) in Ettelbruck, in the Horizon unit. The discovery raised plenty of questions among the patients who came across them, and the police also attended at the time.
The police press office confirmed that a call had come in this year on 26 March at 8am, after a patient reported cameras on the premises. Officers did indeed find cameras on site. Further inquiries showed that the cameras were not connected and had probably been installed more than 20 years ago.
The CHNP also confirmed in response to questions that several old cameras had been discovered in the Horizon unit a few weeks ago. After internal checks, it was established that the cameras had been installed in 2001, and it was also possible to demonstrate that they had never been connected to any network. Following the patient's report, the cameras were removed immediately.
The CHNP can no longer say with certainty why the cameras were put in place to begin with.
The cameras had been concealed behind wooden panels, as can also be seen in a photo obtained by RTL, which would help explain how they had gone unnoticed for more than two decades.
The CHNP added in its email that psychiatry has changed greatly in recent decades, in particular the way patients are treated.
